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Janet Jackson is opening up about another wardrobe malfunction. In an interview with British Vogue in which the 58-year-old pop icon flipped through a look book of some of her most iconic costumes, Jackson stopped on one of the military-inspired looks from her 1989 Rhythm Nation album.
“Funny story. I was performing for the Queen of England, and we were doing Rhythm Nation,” Jackson said of the late British monarch who died at age 96 in Sept. 2022. “Sure enough, as soon as I squatted, my pants split right up my booty crack.” Jackson said she “couldn’t believe” her terrible luck before realizing it was worse than she imagined.
“Then I started feeling air back there, so I knew it had really happened,” she said, revealing her quick-thinking fix for the sartorial nightmare. “I never turned my back to her, which, some of the choreography, I was supposed to. I just faced forward.”
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The story from the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is extra poignant given the other wardrobe malfunction she is most commonly associated with. As you may recall, back in 2004 Jackson performed with Justin Timberlake at that year’s Super Bowl halftime show in Houston, during which JT famously ripped off a piece of Jackson’s costume, exposing her nipple for 9/16th of a second.
The moment that was probed in a 2021 New York Times Presents documentary led to a raft of complaints from viewers, as well as fines and significant professional implications for Jackson. For years, many fans and pundits noted that Timberlake appeared to emerge from the pre-social media viral moment with little or no backlash, while Jackson’s career was dealt a blow from the incident after her videos were pulled from Viacom properties including MTV, VH1 and CBS and she was uninvited to that year’s Grammy Awards.
The Super Bowl slip dubbed “Nipple-gate” also introduced the phrase “wardrobe malfunction” into common parlance and, in the wake of the #FreeBritney movement that blew up in 2019, led to Timberlake issuing public apologies to both Jackson and his ex Spears for the way he’d treated them.
“I’ve seen the messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond,” Timberlake said at the time after the 2021 Framing Britney Spears documentary portrayed the “Cry Me a River” singer as acting callously following his split with Britney in 2002. “I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right. I understand that I fell short in these moments and in many others and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism. I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.”
Jackson is gearing up to launch her Las Vegas residency with back-to-back performances on Dec. 30 and New Year’s Eve at Resorts World Las Vegas.
Watch Jackson describe her royal de-pantsing below.
A decade before Brat summer, Charli XCX roared to No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart with “Boom Clap.”
The song began a three-week reign on the list dated Sept. 13, 2014, and marked her first No. 1 on her own and second overall. She first led as featured on Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” for three weeks beginning that June.
Powered by their explosive choruses, the songs became Charli XCX’s second and third Pop Airplay top 10s, after Icona Pop’s fellow anthemic hit “I Love It,” on which she’s also featured, rose to No. 3 in June 2013.
On the multimetric Billboard Hot 100, “I Love It” hit No. 7; “Fancy” dominated for seven weeks – and earned top honors on the season-ending 2014 Songs of the Summer chart; and “Boom Clap” stormed to No. 8.
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Notably, “Boom Clap” marked the fourth consecutive Pop Airplay No. 1 by an artist in a first chart visit as a lead act, following three fellow enduring hits: Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me,” Magic!’s “Rude” and Nico & Vinz’s “Am I Wrong.”
“Discovering new artists is one of the many things that keeps radio great,” Tommy Chuck, senior vice president of programming for iHeartMedia’s Tampa and Sarasota, Fla., stations, told Billboard upon the chart coronation of “Boom Clap.”
New acts or not, “great songs win,” said Erik Bradley, Audacy brand manager. “And hits like ‘Rude’ and ‘Boom Clap’ are incredible songs.”
“Boom Clap” was released from Charli XCX’s album Sucker, which reached No. 28 on the Billboard 200 in January 2015. The song was also fueled by its synch in the hit film The Fault in Our Stars.
In 2016, the Cambridge, England-born artist hit the Hot 100’s top 10 as a co-writer of Selena Gomez’s “Same Old Love,” while in 2019, her co-write “Senorita,” recorded by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, spent a week at No. 1, marking Charli XCX’s second leader as a writer, after “Fancy.”
In 2022, Crash became Charli XCX’s first Billboard 200 top 10, peaking at No. 7. This June, Brat bounded in at its No. 3 best. The Atlantic Records release has yet to depart the chart’s top 15 and has earned 585,000 equivalent albums in the United States through Sept. 5, according to Luminate. (Meta moment, especially for this post: “I used to never think about Billboard/ But now, I’ve started thinking again, wondering about whether I think I deserve commercial success,” she muses on the set’s reflective track “Rewind.”)
Meanwhile, Brat single “360” becomes Charli XCX’s first Pop Airplay top 10 since “Boom Clap,” rising a spot to No. 10 on the Sept. 21-dated chart. In addition to notching her fourth top 10 on the tally, she scores the list’s highest new entry, as fellow Brat track “Apple” debuts at No. 36.
Looking back for Billboard’s July cover story, Charli XCX called Sucker “an attempt at what Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour was able to do much better. My vision wasn’t fully realized. I was 19 years old. Whilst I think a lot of the songs that I was doing then were good songs, I wouldn’t necessarily have listened to them if it was another artist releasing them. I think I knew that at the time, but I also think I knew that that was OK. At that time, I was writing for a lot of other people, and I wanted to be doing that. I knew I probably wouldn’t have been in those [writing rooms] had ‘Boom Clap’ and those songs not happened the way they happened.”
The Kamala Harris campaign has pivoted from its Brat Summer to a new Era. On Friday (Sept. 13) the Democratic National Committee unveiled a new digital billboard campaign in New York and Las Vegas that leans into Taylor Swift‘s endorsement of the presidential bid by the sitting Vice President and her VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
The ads read “We’re In Our Kamala Era!” in reference to Swift’s billion-dollar Eras Tour, as well as “A New Way Forward… Ready For It?,” which is a play on the song of the same name from the singer’s 2017 Reputation album. According to People, the Manhattan billboard is located 22 stories above the iconic red steps in Times Square — a seemingly Swift-esque Easter egg reference to Swift’s songs “22” and “Red” from 2012’s Red album.
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Meanwhile the ads on the Las Vegas strip feature a photo of Harris, 59, with the Eras reference, as well as another of Trump, 78, that asks, “Exhausted with this guy?” While Trump is famous for putting his name on a number of buildings in New York, the choice of Sin City for the latter ad coincided with the twice-impeached former President’s planned rally in Vegas on Friday.
Following Harris’ strong performance at Tuesday’s debate with convicted felon Trump — during which the former reality TV star amplified a false and racist meme claiming that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating dogs and cats — Swift endorsed the Democratic ticket in an impassioned post in which she struck out at fake AI images that appeared to show her endorsing Trump.
“It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation,” Swift said about the clearly doctored images that Trump re-posted on his Truth social feed. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
The post in which Swift posed with one of her cats, was signed “Childless Cat Lady,” a dig at Trump VP candidate Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s 2021 demeaning description of Democratic leaders, including stepmother of two Harris, as “childless cat ladies… who want to make the rest of the country miserable.”
Swift’s endorsement on her Instagram feed with 238 million followers and plea for fans to register to vote led to nearly 400,000 people visiting the Vote.gov registration site in the days after Tuesday’s debate.
Trump denied the singer’s possible influence on the neck-and-neck race in an hours-long phone call with Fox & Friends on Wednesday in which he said, “I was not a Taylor Swift fan,” saying he prefers the singer’s friend, Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who is teammates with Taylor’s boyfriend, KC tight end Travis Kelce. “She’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.
The ads are in keeping with the Harris/Walz campaign’s pinpoint needling of Trump with a barrage of memes and videos on X, as well as their perfectly-timed roll-out of friendship bracelets in their online store reading “Harris-Walz”; the $20-for-two accessories sold out almost immediately. Harris immediately leaned into the Swift endorsement during her post-debate party, where she walked off the stage to Swift’s misogyny-bashing Lover single “The Man.”
Check out the billboards below.
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On this week’s (Sept. 6) episode of the Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century podcast, we take a look at a pair of unpredictable pop powerhouses: K-pop icons BTS and R&B mystery man turned pop megahitmaker The Weeknd. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news First, host Andrew […]
Nearly two years after forming and roughly 10 months after arriving in Los Angeles to record their debut album, as1one — the pop group made up of six Israeli and Palestinian musicians — have released their debut single.
“All Eyes on Us” is a collaboration with music legend Nile Rodgers that showcases the group’s tight harmonies and high energy. Watch the peppy, poppy, sun-soaked music video for the song, featuring an appearance from Rodgers on guitar, exclusively below.
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The song and video come in tandem with the news that as1one has signed with Nashville’s Thirty Tigers, an independent label services company that provides marketing, distribution and publishing services.
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“Thirty Tigers was a critical decision for as1one,” the group’s founders James Diener and Ken Levitan tell Billboard in a joint statement. “A real consideration was that Thirty Tigers is renowned as a home for career artistry. Their roster – as musically diverse that it is – always represents a commitment to true artists. That is essential to us, for as1one to be acknowledged in similar light and privileged to be in such creative company. Thirty Tigers gives us all the support that we need. Moreover, their passion and commitment to as1one is the invaluable service that can’t be replicated elsewhere. We’re so pleased to be working together.”
Diener and Levitan brought as1one together after an extensive search, working with Israeli and Palestinian casting directors to hold auditions in cities and villages throughout Israel in 2021. The intention wasn’t necessarily to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in the same group, but that’s what happened as the talent pool was narrowed down to the six who made it in.
The group is composed of Ohad Attia, a Jewish Israeli from Tel Aviv; Sadik Dogosh, a Palestinian Bedouin Muslim from Rahat; Palestinian Christian Aseel Farah from Haifa; Niv Lin, a Jewish Israeli from a desert town in southern Israel; Jewish Israeli Nadav Philips; and Neta Rozenblat, a Jewish Israeli from Tel Aviv.
The guys arrived in Los Angeles from Israel to work on their debut album on Oct. 6, 2023, getting news of the Oct. 7 attack in Israel on their first night in L.A. As1one has since made music in L.A. while the war has continued in Gaza, with a documentary crew capturing this and other parts of their story for a five-episode docuseries coming later this year on Paramount+.
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“It’s been an emotional roller coaster,” Philips says of the group’s trajectory. “I’m so excited about our first single, ‘All Eyes on Us,’ but also how we formed into one big family this past year. We’ve been through a lot together and our bond is stronger than ever.
“I really hope that the world will embrace it and see the good in it,” he adds. “After all, we are really here to make music that can bring people together. This is what it’s all about. This is what we came to do.”
The group will release its second single later this year, around the release of the docuseries. Diener and Levitan say to expect “much more music” in early 2025. The founders add that current events as they relate to the war “are not a factor in our single release plan; as1one are focused on their music. However, as1one and their songs will hopefully be a natural inspiration in current times.”
The group has been working with not only Rodgers, but producers and songwriters including Jenna Andrews and Stephen Kirk, who together have credits on mega-hits like BTS’ “Butter” and “Permission to Dance,” along with Danja (Nelly Furtado’s “Say It Right,” Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack,” Britney Spears’ “Gimme More”), Justin Tranter (a go-to co-writer for Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Maroon 5 and Imagine Dragons) and Y2K (Doja Cat’s “Attention”).
“The last 10 months living in LA have been intense,” says Farah. “We’ve been working on new music that we’re really excited about that has brought us together as a band like never before.” But naturally, alongside the excitement about the group, Rozenblat says “it’s been hard with the conflict back home. We’ve lost friends and have been grieving for the victims caught in this war. We’re really lucky we have each other for support.”
“It’s been a whirlwind of emotions, with moments of both happiness and sadness,” adds Lin. “But the most important thing we’ve learned is how to stay together as one.”
“We are here to make music and unite people,” says Attia. “It doesn’t matter where you are from, what your background is or your beliefs are. We can like the same music and get joy from the same song. We can hug each other, and experience the same emotions. That’s what makes us human. We’re here to show people we’re still together even though we can be different.”
Taylor Swift has once again surprised fans by dropping the Dombresky remix of her track “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” today (Sept. 13).
It’s been a whirlwind week for Swift, who not only endorsed Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential election but also won seven awards at the 2024 VMAs, which were held at UBS Arena in New York on Wednesday (Sept. 11).
At the awards show on Wednesday, Swift scored Video of the Year award for “Fortnight,” a track from The Tortured Poets Department featuring Post Malone. This brings the singer-songwriter’s career total of Moonpersons to an even 30, which enables her to tie Beyoncé as the top winner in the show’s history.
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In her acceptance speech, she thanked her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, and encouraged fans to vote. “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic,” Swift said of the Kansas City Chiefs tight end.
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The Tortured Poets Department has been an extraordinary commercial success, solidifying Swift’s reign on the Billboard charts. The album, which marks her 14th No. 1, ties her with Jay-Z for the most No. 1 albums by a solo artist. With only The Beatles ahead of her with 19 No. 1s, Swift continues to break records while exploring new creative territories.
Meanwhile “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart”, the album’s second single, opened and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Global 200 chart, and placed within the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Stream the Dombresky remix of Taylor Swift’s “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart” below.
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Just over 24 hours after giving “I’m His, He’s Mine” a steamy live debut on the MTV Video Music Awards stage, Katy Perry and Doechii have dropped their saucy new collaboration. Featuring a heavy sample of Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy Woman” — you know, the one that goes “La da dee la dee da” — the […]
With a breakout hit across international charts this summer, KISS OF LIFE is ready to take an explosive year to the next level with their first-ever world tour.
The girl group’s forthcoming Kiss Road World Tour continues the momentum Julie, Natty, Belle and Haneul gained on the global stage with the infectious single “Sticky,” helping the K-pop act debut onto multiple Billboard charts: The Afrobeat-inspired summer single peaked at No. 7 on the South Korean Songs chart so far, entered the U.S.-based World Digital Song Sales chart at No. 10 in July, while also spending a solid six weeks on the Billboard Global 200 after hitting No. 87, and 10 weeks on the Billboard Glocal Excl. U.S. chart after a No. 47 peak.
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With promising results early just over a year into their career alongside the quartet’s international makeup and range of industry experiences, KISS OF LIFE is proving they’re more than just a rising K-pop rookie—they’re becoming a global-pop force all their own.
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“We love the song ‘Sticky,’ so it was really an honor for it to get into the charts,” says Julie, the group’s dynamic leader who was born in Hawaii, speaking to Billboard for their first-ever interview with an international outlet. “We really put a lot of effort into the choreography and also the music itself, so it’s exciting to see our hard work paying off. All of us were just hugging each other when we found out the news.”
Seattle-raised Belle, who previously worked as a songwriter for other top K-pop groups, believes their authenticity plays a massive role in why global fans connect to them: “We honestly try to be ourselves in all the music we release. By being authentic, I think our fans and listeners are able to resonate more with the excitement we feel when we sing and perform.”
Youngest member Haneul, born and raised in Korea, adds that the KIOF members’ diverse backgrounds fuel their artistry. “We just respect each other,” the 19-year-old says. “We acknowledge our differences and the path we went through to get here, so that makes us learn from each other and grow.”
The upcoming Kiss Road tour kicks off in Seoul with two concerts on Oct. 26 and 27 before coming to North America for an extensive, 18-date trek beginning in Minneapolis, Minn. on Nov. 10. “We are pretty confident in our performing ability,” teases Thailand-born Natty, whom K-pop fans have watched grow up on K-pop competition shows like Sixteen and Idol School before officially debuting onto the K-pop scene as an artist. “Fans can expect a show with high energy and we’re excited to bring our best to the stage.”
Get to know KISS OF LIFE’s Julie, Natty, Belle, and Haneul as the members share more about their process, viewpoint, world tour plans and messages to their fans affectionately known as Kissys, alongside exclusive photos below.
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I want to begin by congratulating you on earning your first Billboard chart entries with “Sticky.” What were your reactions?!
Julie: We couldn’t believe it! We love the song “Sticky” so it was really an honor for it to get into the charts. We were so happy that people were liking it as much as us and we felt so grateful! We really put a lot of effort into the choreography and also the music itself, so it’s exciting to see our hard work paying off. All of us were just hugging each other when we found out the news; as hard as we worked, we also know that we really couldn’t have done it without the support of our fans—love you, Kissys!
KISS OF LIFE
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
KISS OF LIFE has been rising since your debut last July, but “Sticky” has been a real breakout: Top 10 in Korea, charting in the U.S., your biggest hits on Billboard‘s Global charts. What do you think are some factors that made this such a hit?
Belle: I think we honestly try to be ourselves in all the music we release. By being authentic, I think our fans and listeners are able to resonate more with the excitement we feel when we sing and perform as well. I feel like this song, in particular, really suited all the members, and you could feel that all the members were just having fun and enjoying themselves while recording and performing the song. Also, in regards to the visuals and performance, we focused on just feeling ourselves and being confident which fits well with summer. I mean, it is summer, why not have a little fun with it?!
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I also love your latest B-side, “Te Quiero,” co-written by Belle. What did you want to show with “Sticky” and “Te Quiero” that you hadn’t shown previously in KISS OF LIFE?
Natty: We wanted to show everyone our translation of summer! The cool and refreshing side as well as the hot! We just wanted to send good vibes and make sure everyone could enjoy the summer with us. Both “Sticky” and “Te Quiero” are actually our interpretations of summer: “Sticky” would be the exciting, fun aspect of summer where you enjoy yourself to the fullest; “Te Quiero” would be the cooler, more chill and relaxing version of summer that is equally enjoyable. I don’t think we had some mastermind plan of what we wanted to show with these tracks. We just genuinely wanted everyone to enjoy the music while enjoying their summer. You work hard, you play harder!
KISS OF LIFE
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
“Te Quiero” is also significant as another English B-side track, just like “Nobody” with “Midas Touch.” Is there a more prominent reason to include these tracks, and even the English version of “Bad News,” in your larger plans as a group?
Julie: Of course! We always want to keep our international fans a big part of our music. For the Kissys all around the world, we want to continue to make music that everyone can enjoy and listen to. We are adamant in making sure our international fans know that they play a big role in our music. Again, we don’t have a master plan on how or a larger picture that we are strategizing for. We really just want everyone to feel included with our music, wherever they are and whoever they are. We just want to make music that everyone can enjoy and listen to without overcomplicating things.
Have you begun preparations and rehearsals for your Kiss Road World Tour? What are you looking forward to the most?
Haneul: We are super excited for the tour. Absolutely, can’t wait to meet our Kissys, who have been supporting us throughout our journey. We’ve been working hard with our team in designing the show so that we are able to give all of our fans an amazing experience. There’s a little bit of pressure to show our fans the best version of ourselves but we promise we won’t let you down. I think the most exciting part about touring is really feeling everyone’s positive energy!
Natty: Well, we are actually pretty confident in our performing ability so fans can expect a show with high energy. We love what we do and we are blessed with so many people supporting us while we do what we love. In return, we want to give them the best version of us, so I hope they will all look forward to it.
Something I always respected about KISS OF LIFE is that you shared yourselves via solo songs from your debut album. Will we get to see more solo stages on tour?
Belle: Don’t want to give too many spoilers so…I think we can say, “maybe?!” We’ve prepared some new stages so make sure you stay tuned for it.
KISS OF LIFE
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
With that, KISS OF LIFE has also become known for your covers. Your Brown Eyed Girls “Sixth Sense” cover was even officially released, and you’ve done songs by 2NE1, Ciara, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, BLACKPINK, Doja Cat, the list goes on…any special or new covers for tour?
Julie: We always sing, rap, and dance to so many different artists on a daily [basis], so hopefully, we get the opportunity to showcase it to everyone on tour. We just love all different styles and categories of music. For us right now it’s being versatile enough to explore many different types of music and to experiment with sounds so we [can] create our own specific style. There are days we focus on singing, other days we rap, and days we only dance, but we are always working to improve ourselves, so I hope we have the opportunity to showcase it for the world to see!
The four of you came from very different backgrounds and debuted as adults. Sometimes, it can be difficult for adults to pursue their dreams or even make new friends. How did you all connect and learn from each other to make KISS OF LIFE work as cohesively as it is?
Haneul: We just respect each other. We acknowledge our differences and the path we went through to get here so that makes us learn from each other and grow! A key point in any relationship is trust and respect. The respect comes from acknowledging each other’s past experiences that led them on the path for us to be here. I believe that because we are able to share our respective experiences with each other, we are able to learn from each other and grow as a group, not just individually. We all have something to learn from each other and we respect where that knowledge came from.
KISS OF LIFE
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
Do you have any other messages for international fans waiting to meet you?
Julie: We always want to say thank you so much for sending your love and support. Although we may be far distances, our hearts are always near! We can’t wait to meet everyone in person and I hope the time comes fast. Love you guys so much and see you soon!!!
Courtesy of S2 Entertainment
If there’s anyone who knows about a showstopping kiss on the MTV VMAs stage, it’s Britney Spears — and she had some thoughts on Sabrina Carpenter‘s own viral VMA lip-lock with an alien at Wednesday night’s show.
Spears posted a selfie video to her Instagram account, where she brought up a few Carpenter moments from the awards show.
“Did you guys watch the VMAs?” she asked her 42 million followers. “I didn’t watch the VMAs, but I did see stuff on my phone from YouTube of Sabrina Carpenter. Why is she kissing an alien onstage? I adore her. I love her to death. I didn’t understand that part. Why didn’t she kiss a girl? Like, that was weird. But I also thought that, like, the whole thing was kind of, like, weird.”
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The pop star then went on a tangent about taking a “really long bath” on VMA night and doing some coloring — “I’m into coloring right now. I like to color and I like to trace.” — before circling back to Carpenter.
“This Sabrina girl, she said my name on the red carpet and I thought that was kind of cool,” Spears said. “Because I forget I’m famous sometimes. Because I’m a mom, I’m kind of old, blah-blah-blah, but that was kind of cool. … She made me cool. OK, maybe not,” she laughed.
Spears has had a lot of memorable moments on the VMA stage over the years, including her notorious kiss with Madonna at the 2003 show, when Brit and sometime rival Christina Aguilera joined the Queen of Pop onstage to perform “Like a Virgin” and share a three-way kiss.
Britney’s presence was felt throughout Wednesday’s show, like when host Megan Thee Stallion wore a re-creation of Spears’ 2001 “I’m a Slave 4 U” performance costume — complete with a yellow snake wrapped around her arms — or when Tate McRae paid tribute to the sheer, lacy Dolce & Gabbana minidress Spears wore on the red carpet that same year.
Carpenter herself even had an onstage reference to Spears, when she played an audio snippet from Britney’s “Oops!…I Did It Again” music video during the transition between “Please Please Please” and new single “Taste” for her debut VMA performance.
Watch Spears’ reaction to the 2024 VMAs below:
Shaboozey‘s already sang about how he and Jack Daniels got a history, and now the country superstar is ready to link up with another famous name: Taylor Swift.
Speaking to The Associated Press on the red carpet of the 2024 MTV VMAs on Wednesday night, Shaboozey revealed that he identifies as a “big Swiftie” and praised his fellow nominee. “Love T. Swift, love Taylor,” he told the outlet. “Big one.”
The reporter then asked Shaboozey if he thought Swift’s high-profile endorsement of Kamala Harris gave “permission” to other artists to get more political. “I think you just do you, you know?” the singer responded. “Do what you feel in your heart, just be honest with yourself and authentic to you, to your person … and just walk in your truth.”
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Later in the evening, Shaboozey was spotted chatting with Swift, as the pair posed for a series of photos together during the ceremony.
The country phenomenon was nominated at Wednesday’s awards for song of the summer for his nine-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 breakout hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” but he was ultimately beat out by none other than Swift herself, who took home the trophy alongside Post Malone for “Fortnight.” Swift went on to score seven wins at the annual show, including video of the year and best collaboration for “Fortnight,” as well as artist of the year.
Elsewhere on the red carpet, Shaboozey spoke about the surprising news that Beyoncé had not been nominated for any trophies at the 2024 CMA Awards, where he’s up for his first two awards. “It’s definitely unfortunate, if that’s something that she was looking to receive and that’s something that she worked for,” he told E! News. “I know as an artist, you put a lot of time and a lot of work, and a lot of things, and a lot of energy into music, you know? But you know awards aren’t really, you know, they’re not everything.”
Check out a clip of Shaboozey’s interview below, plus a carousel of his VMA night with some “friends,” including Swift and Chappell Roan:
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